Hello darlings!~ I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support, and to those of you who favorite, follow, and especially review thank you so much. You are the wind beneath my wings. Please enjoy! :)

Chapter 3: A New Ally

31 Days Post Spring Equinox

The name pushed memories back into Meliodas' mind so fast that he nearly fell over. Azazel… that was the name of a demon. Memories flashed in and out of his mind, glimpses of crimson and dark shadows passed through, but none of them paused long enough to become tangible.

He glanced up and looked where he had just seen Liz, but she was gone. He looked behind him for his friends, and immediately a sense of relief washed over him. They had returned, with the addition of Merlin, Elizabeth, and miniature Hawk. Meliodas smiled, he had never felt so at ease in his life.

Slowly, his relief faded. A thick fog had crept in and visibility was drastically dropping. Meliodas crossed the distance between himself and his comrades in three long strides, and by then he could barely make out his friends standing right next to him. Then, the sound of laughter permeated the air.

It was thick in sound, dripping with bloodlust. The cackle wavered in pitch, fluctuating effortlessly between a screech and a roar. Meliodas sensed the fear level rising, and he felt his fists clench involuntarily. This was his fault. Azazel had been allowed to escape into the human realm because of his carelessness with the dragon hilt. This was no time for games; he had a duty to protect his friends. He grasped the hilt of his sword and felt his power well up inside him; the red-hot flame of his power grew from his feet and filled his arms. He planted his feet and glared straight ahead; today he would solve everything. Today was the day he made up for his mistake.

"Elizabeth, everyone, stay back," he warned, "I'll take care of this." Meliodas was ready to charge forward when a different chuckle came from behind him, but this one was warm and inviting.

"Meliodas," Merlin's sultry voice came from behind him, "please tell me how you're going to fight an enemy you can't see."

"It's simple," Meliodas felt his fury fade and returned to his boyish smile, "I'll just have to listen for him."

The menacing voice returned. "Listen for me, Meliodas?" The laugh returned too, and Meliodas could feel the air cool and the fog grow thicker. "I am all around you."

"Gowther," Meliodas turned, "is this an illusion you can break?"

"I haven't quite finished thinking it through." Gowther responded, monotonous as always.

"Of course," Meliodas beamed, "then we will have to fight an invisible enemy."

"I'll take care of this." Merlin interjected, snapping her fingers. "Absolute cancel." Merlin's voice was calm and steady, but Meliodas could definitely detect a hint of superiority. She had had the ability to break the illusion from the beginning, but she had been enjoying watching them struggle.

Meliodas shifted his attention to the sudden movement from the left of them. A small figure, no bigger than a child, fell from the sky and landed with a heavy sound. The fog had cleared up a little bit, and Meliodas noticed that they were no longer in the middle of town and were instead in a large open field. In the middle of the field there was a mass of pink and purple cloth where the figure had fallen.

Not a single one of the Sins could believe their eyes as the bundle of cloth began to shift, and soon it stood upright.

Meliodas felt his anger dissipate and held in a chuckle. He sheathed his sword and squinted to get a better look at the demon before them, but the sight only became more ridiculous. Their once menacing enemy donned a fur lined maroon coat and his long magenta-colored tresses wisped around his rather feminine face. His eyes, a striking shade of violet, were accompanied by gold-painted lids, and his eyebrows, though extravagant, seemed as if they had been painted on by a careful artist.

"Oh that's no fair Merlin," the demon pouted, his deep red lips parting to reveal two rows of spiked teeth. Slowly, a twisted smile stretched across his face. "I was only just beginning to have my fun."

Meliodas drew his sword again, but this time was different. He was calm and controlled while he waited for the demon to make his first move. Time slowly began to pass, at first it was just seconds, but soon the time stretched into minutes. Meliodas was beginning to lose his calm demeanor; if he were to take on Azazel by himself he couldn't be the first to attack, and he absolutely could not risk putting his friends' lives in danger again.

"Can't be the first to attack, mmm?" Azazel purred, disappearing and reappearing next to Meliodas. "It's the magical ability of yours, isn't it? Full counter I think it is called." The demon cooed, twisting a piece of Meliodas' hair between his fingers.

"Well you seem pretty nonviolent now," Meliodas smiled, patting Azazel on the shoulder. "I wouldn't want to pick a fight if I didn't have to."

"Oh don't you worry, Meliodas," the demon disappeared and reappeared behind him, whispering in his ear. "I will tear you and all of your friends to shreds."

"This talking is getting boring," Diane growled from behind them, "If the Captain won't attack, I will!" Diane yelled, launching a fist directly towards Azazel.

"Diane, no!" Meliodas attempted to stop her, but it was too late. Meliodas quickly moved out of the way just as the ground underneath him exploded with the impact of her fist. Trees and boulders were uprooted and launched thirty feet away. It took a moment for the dust to settle, but when it did Diane was terrified. Azazel was nowhere to be seen.

"Too slow, dear," came the same purr in Diane's ear and she felt her body tense. She turned her head to look at Azazel, and the world lit up. She felt her body soar through the air and crash down on the ground somewhere far away. She attempted to scream, but her throat was on fire. Pain flooded all of her senses and a massive flash of light blinded her. She held her hands tight over her ears, attempting to drown out the sharp ringing that had filled her mind. Somehow, in less than a small fraction of a second, Azazel had set off an explosion right next to her.

She attempted to squint her eyes and see through the light. King was still floating, but now it seemed as if he were a hundred miles away. She tried to call out to him, but her voice was gone. She reached for him, but when she lifted her arm she found it mangled. Chunks of her flesh were missing and pieces of ivory bone were visible. The pain was overwhelming and the light was fading. She closed her eyes and attempted one last time to call for King, but her throat tightened around her words and she blacked out.

"What did you do to her?" King yelled as Diane stared at him, the light behind her eyes gone. She had missed her punch and then had turned to look at him. She looked at him terrified at first, and slowly she had faded. She closed her eyes and fell to the ground unconscious. Azazel hadn't even comes close to her, but he seemed to render her unconscious without the slightest effort. "Whatever you did," he turned to look towards the demon who had hurt her, "I won't forgive you!"

King raised Chastiefol high into the air and smiled at the demon. "Chastiefol fourth configuration: Increase." He glowered at Azazel, one thousand tiny daggers pointed and poised for the kill. "You're a demon, aren't you?" King smiled larger and the daggers began to rotate in the air. "You won't be easy for me to kill, but I'll do it for Diane!" King waved his arms down, throwing all of Chastiefol's power upon Azazel.

Slowly, King's smile faded and he too was looking terrified. He watched in silent horror as Azazel dodged each dagger with an unmatched level of ease. King continued to pour his power into Chastiefol, increasing the attack, but each dagger found its place in the ground rather than through Azazel. Petrified, he watched as Azazel raised a hand and caught the last dagger between two fingers, stopping it right before it would have impaled him.

"Such a nice weapon," Azazel cooed, turning the dagger over in his hands. "You know, it's dangerous for children to play with such sharp things." A sickening smile spread across the demon's crimson colored lips as he waved his hand like King had. Slowly, all thousand zombified daggers rose from the ground and pointed at King.

"I am not," King started, attempting to fight back, but it was useless. His energy was defeated. He was powerless to stop his own weapon from obliterating him. His body was heavy and he felt himself falling out of the sky. "A child." He finished as he felt the daggers pierce his frail frame hundreds of times. He felt blood rushing into his lungs and he lost the ability to breathe. He watched, his eyelids growing heavy, as Meliodas charged for the demon that was now standing over him. "Save yourself," King attempted, reaching for Meliodas, but instead he felt blood fill his mouth and no sound came out.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to never turn your back on the enemy?" Meliodas smiled as he plunged his sword directly through Azazel's heart. Meliodas smiled, pushing his sword deeper, but his relief soon faded. As he withdrew his sword, the place where he had impaled Azazel slowly began to crack and fall away like shattered porcelain. Soon, the cracks spread throughout the entire body, and the demon fell away into dust.

Meliodas cringed as a ghastly chuckle came from behind him, directly above his ear. "Funny," Meliodas felt a sword at his back, "I was just going to tell you that." The demon laughed louder as he drove the entire sword through Meliodas. Meliodas clutched his chest and fell to his knees, his world turning crimson while the pain burned him like fire. He glanced down and discovered that the sword that had pierced his heart was the very sword Liz had given him to protect himself. He had been killed with his own weapon.

His world was beginning to fade when he looked up to see Gowther, who had drawn Herrit and was poised to fire. Meliodas felt his head grow heavy and his eyelids droop. The last thing he saw was Gowther, calm and composed, as he sent a single flying arrow, cloaked in light, straight towards Meliodas and Azazel.

Azazel stood over Meliodas and looked around at three of the deadly Sins, who were now unconscious. Their labored breaths were still audible, as they suffered through wounds and pain that were only real to themselves. He smiled at Gowther, who had attempted to defend himself. Slowly, he raised a hand to deflect the arrow, but, to his surprise, the arrow passed directly through his hand unimpeded and buried itself right through his chest.

"You're a skilled illusionist," Gowther called out to him, "but a nightmare can rattle the calmest of minds."

He panicked and raised his hand to his chest, but the arrow was gone. The field that they had been fighting in was gone as well, and suddenly he understood that he was shrouded in a memory. He was back at the goddess pond, cloaked in warmth and surrounded by light.

The memory was vivid despite its age. The goddess pond was where angels could sneak away and watch over the human world. Azazel arched his head over and peered through the water into the world below. He felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw her. He remembered this moment strongly, but the excitement of seeing her for this first time filled him. This had been a sacred memory. This was the memory of the first moment that he had laid eyes on Guinevere. The same wonder that had filled his soul then, filled him now. This woman would be the one he would fall for.

The image twisted and turned around him, slowly melting into a different memory. Now, he was in a corridor that he couldn't quite remember, but he knew where he was headed. Someone, somewhere behind him begged him not to go, but he paid them no attention. He would gladly give the rest of his existence away if it meant a real moment with her in the human world. He burst through a door into the field with the sacred pond and turned back once to look at his friend. A blonde angel with emerald eyes reached his hand out to him, pleading for him to stay, but Azazel shook his head. Without another look back he plunged into the sacred pond and fell from the heavens into the human realm.

Slowly, his vision blurred into a swirl of colors and then refocused again. Now, he was in the middle of a town. He owned a small caravan and travelled from town to town, searching desperately for Guinevere. To each town he brought items that humans had never heard of before. He showed them how to craft and wield weapons, and he taught women the art of cosmetics.

He was showcasing cosmetics when she appeared. He was immediately enchanted from the moment he laid eyes on her. She held his gaze with exceedingly kind eyes and beamed with a smile richer than gold at anyone she met. Her happiness shined from her face like sunlight, and when Azazel looked at her he knew he had finally found home.

Years began to pass through his memories in seconds, certain images burning into his mind. There was their first date, followed by their first kiss. Then, they were married. The birth of their two sons. Opening the shop together. Birthdays. Celebrations. Festivals. The shop was doing well and they were going to move to a bigger city; then darkness fell. Knights raided their city and home, mercilessly killing any who strayed into their path.

"Azazel the demon," one of the knights read aloud from a scroll when they had reached their home, "you have been judged guilty for the slaughter of man. You provided weapons and taught man how to kill, and for this crime you have been sentenced to death by the very flames you used to teach man how to forge."

He was shackled and dragged through the dirt. His children cried for his help as they were bound to a large wooden post that had been plunged into the ground. His dear Gwen tried to stay calm, but her sweet eyes burned with fear. He watched in horror as his wife and children were tied together and set aflame. He was tied to another post, forced to watch as his family perished. The knights scorched him for hours and poured kerosene all over him, but he did not die. It took them days before they realized that man-made flame would do nothing to a demon, and so they sent a mage who forever sealed him int the underworld to suffer for his crimes.

Gowther appeared in front of him, and Azazel fell to his knees from the pain of his memories. His head in his palms, he begged Gowther to kill him and release him from his nightmare.

"That which is made by man cannot kill a demon," Gowther responded calmly, placing a hand over Azazel's head, "But I do want to thank you for sharing these memories with me. They have been educational." Gowther lifted his hand from the demon's head, and released him from the nightmare.

Azazel opened his eyes to see that he was back in the field, but Diane, King, and Meliodas had awoken from their own nightmares and were standing over him. Merlin was now the closest to him, crouched over him as she rested a palm on his chest.

"Five prong seal," she shouted, pushing her fingers deep within his chest. Azazel howled in agony as she pierced him. However, as quickly as the pain had started it was over, and all that remained was an intricate pentagon with a crimson boar neatly tattooed in the middle.

"Azazel," Merlin stood up, "I have freed you from your imprisonment in the underworld, and now you are bound to me."

"Oh how lovely," Azazel purred, standing up and pushing back his vibrant hair. "Truly, any demon would be proud to have such a glamorous Master." He smiled as he ran his fingers through Merlin's hair, cooing over her dress and shoes. Now that he was free from the underworld, he owed himself to this group of people, and therefore they were his true allies.

Diane could hardly believe what she was hearing. How could this be the same demon who had been psychologically torturing them just minutes ago? Now he donned a strangely feline smile and his voice was no longer menacing, but had changed to be rather high pitched and excessively flamboyant.

"Why did you attack us?" King asked, clutching Chastiefol tightly, still weary of their newfound ally.

"Oh my sweet kittens," Azazel purred, tracing his fingers along King's coat, "because you are very valuable to someone."

"Who would that be?" Merlin inquired, growing interested.

"Well if I knew I wouldn't have let myself get captured so easily. I figure if I stick around you dollies I might get to find out."

"Well," Meliodas spoke up, now standing next to Elizabeth who was clutching Hawk tightly, "if you aren't the one after us, who exactly are you?"

"Oh how terribly rude of me," Azazel spoke, clearing his throat. He took a grand bow and looked deeply into Meliodas' eyes. "I am Azazel, the seventh demon prince of hell."

"I tried to be someone else, but nothing seemed to change. I know now, this is who I really am inside. Finally found myself, fighting for a chance. I know now, this is who I really am." – The Kill, 30 Seconds to Mars

Hey friends! Thanks for reading, just a heads up that I am headed across the country for Thanksgiving, so I won't be able to update for a week. I generally try to update every Tuesday and Friday/Saturday. This upcoming week I won't be doing my Tuesday update or my Friday/Saturday, but next week it will be back on. I hope you all have a great holiday.

-EphemeralSummers :)